According to the indictment, the Freemans and a co-defendant, Clint "Trap" Callender, 27, conspired to distribute and sell buprenorphine, a painkiller also used to treat opioid addiction.

Tracy Freeman and Callender spoke to each other in "coded and cryptic" phone conversations, and the mother arranged for her son to give Callender buprenorphine on Rockland Avenue in Egbertville on Dec. 16, said the indictment

Callender then sold the drug to another person in Grymes Hill, the indictment said.

The Freemans and Callender were among 12 defendants arrested in the sting which authorities announced on March 27.

The 15-month joint Staten Island Gang Squad-D.A.'s office probe began in December 2016 amid what authorities say was a spike in violence in the area.

As of March 27, the NYPD had seized about 19 grams of heroin and 185 grams of crack cocaine through undercover buys, authorities said.